Nucleus 24 Contour Wins Design Award!

Cochlear has won the Australian Design Award™ of the Year for a new implant technology design that has been developed for use in their latest Nucleus cochlear implant system - the Nucleus 24 Contour. This prestigious annual award recognizes the work of leading designers in Australia.

The award judges said that the Nucleus 24 Contour was ''an outstanding example of innovative design and development which makes a major contribution to improving people's quality of life around the world''. ''It makes ingenious use of three types of raw material to create an array with the necessary flexibility and ''memory'' to match the shape of the cochlea after insertion.''

The Nucleus 24 Contour electrode array is the result of collaborative research with leading cochlear implant centres worldwide. It is the first peri-modiolar array designed to be safely placed adjacent to the modiolar wall, without the use of invasive bands or positioners within the cochlea. Other design considerations for the Nucleus 24 Contour implant system have been to simplify surgery by making a smaller implant with a circular pedestal for easier drilling.

More than 50 patients have now been successfully implanted in on going clinical studies. Jodie Harris, an early recipient of Nucleus 24 Contour implanted by the University of Melbourne team, attended the award ceremony. On accompanying Mr. John Parker on stage to accept the award, Jodie told the audience that the Nucleus 24 Contour ''has not only given me back my hearing, it has given me back myself.''

The Australian Design Award has recognized excellence in professional product design for 43 years. It is presented to the best example of Australian product design and high quality of design expertise. This year, the Awards featured more than 100 different products representing Industrial Design, Engineering and Software-Electronics.

''Cochlear is very proud to receive this award for the Nucleus 24 Contour. We are very pleased that our technological innovation has been recognized by design experts.'' reports John Parker, General Manager of Design and Development for Cochlear. 'We anticipate that this new design will greatly assist our recipients.''

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